CRESTVIEW — Down to their last out, the Crestview High School baseball team rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take a 4-3 win over Pace on Thursday.
Seth Thomason drove a two-strike pitch from Pace pitcher Thomas Huston into the left-center field gap for a triple to score Tyler Henderson and Corey Armstrong and complete the come-from-behind win.
“We’ve played good all year,” Bulldog coach Tim Gillis said. “But it was nice to get that one to score three in the bottom of the seventh, down two outs, and a couple of times down to two strikes.
“It was a great battle and a great win for us. We have a lot of respect for them (Pace). They play the game right and we were fortunate to get the win.”
The Bulldogs (10-4) trailed 3-1 as they came to bat in the bottom of the seventh.
With one out, pinch hitter Jimmy Croussore was hit by a Thomas pitch. Crousorre took second on a wild pitch with two outs and Henderson at the plate.
Henderson drew a walk and Armstrong followed with a single to right field, scoring Croussore and setting up the heroics by Thomason.
The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the third inning.
Dakota Dean got things started with a one-out single. Henderson popped out to center for the second out of the inning.
It looked like the Patriots would escape the inning without giving up a score when Armstrong rolled a routine grounder to the second base. But Pace committed an error trying to force Dean out at second, and Thomason made the Patriots pay with a base hit to score Dean.
The score remained 1-0, favoring the Bulldogs, until the sixth inning, when the Patriots managed three runs on three hits off Crestview starting pitcher Roman Donofro.
Davis Champion took the mound in relief of Donofro in the seventh inning and retired the side to earn the win. Champion got some defensive help from right fielder Justin Rebholz, who made a diving catch on a sinking line drive for the inning’s second out.
Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Bulldogs rally past Patriots